Arthur Hastings
Arthur Ernest Hastings is one of three playable characters in We Happy Few. He is the first playable character and was originally the only playable character of the game. Appearance Arthur is a tall, slim (almost skinny) man, with parted black hair, dark brown eyes, and a rather large nose. Being a resident of the Parade District, he generally wears a black Proper Suit, his signature outfit, with black Proper Shoes. He also wears black, rimmed glasses. Personality Arthur is a rather meek, scrawny and submissive man who rarely gets angry at people and rather tends to be distressed and nervous, especially in combat. Despite that, he is capable of holding his own in combat and is an expert liar and can fool almost anyone in Wellington Wells. He is also quite resourceful, able to construct various tools, weapons, and other useful and helpful contraptions from different crafting components. When Arthur goes off his Joy and begins to realize the truths that he had denied himself for so long, he begins to break down from the guilt and weight of his sins. However, he ultimately decides that he must carry on, nonetheless, and eventually, he learns not to let his grievances get in the way of the task at hand, without forgetting about them. History Very little is known about Arthur's history, at first. As the game progresses, more of Arthur's history is revealed, the most important being that he had an older brother named Percival "Percy" Hastings. As a child, Arthur would often have to explain things to Percy, who had a developmental disorder (it is implied that he was mildly autistic), often being referred to as "slow." Percy was also often bullied for not completely understanding things, but Arthur stuck with him through it all, sometimes reluctantly. Arthur also had a crush on Sally Boyle, a girl around his age who seemed to care for him as well. When they started sending children to Germany, Percy was convinced by Arthur to accompany him to Germany, However, Arthur betrayed Percy by using Percy's ID to impersonate him and lie to Constable Peters that he was already thirteen while claiming that Percy was Arthur. Percy was therefore sent to Germany in Arthur's place, calling out for Arthur, which later left Arthur feeling guilty. This likely worked because the two looked very similar and Percy's difficulty with communicating with anyone other than Arthur prevented him from exposing Arthur's ruse. At around the same time, Sally Boyle's mother poisoned her family so she wouldn't have to send any of her children away, but Sally survived due to being out of the house at the time. Since she had nowhere else to go, Arthur's family ended up taking her in. While living with the Hastings, Arthur and Sally would occasionally skip school and smoke together. However, when Sally was sixteen, Arthur's father propositioned her, and, out of fear of being kicked out, Sally had sex with him. Arthur discovered this, and, furious, ended up scaring her out of their house anyway. He wouldn't see her again for a long time. Eventually, as Arthur got older, Joy came into existence and Arthur started using it to forget the things he did. As part of the side effects of the drug, his memories of events started to change (such as misremembering the train incident as him telling the truth about his age rather than impersonating and betraying Percy), before he eventually lost his memories altogether. He eventually got a job as a reporter and became quite skilled at it, eventually rising to prominence popularity. Owing to his skills, he was employed by Victoria Byng and got a high-class job as an editor in the Parade District, the richest part of town. He became content with his life, until one day when he encountered an old article about a prize he and Percy had won in and chose to remember rather than take Joy and forget, thus setting in motion the events of the entire game. Events of We Happy Few Act One The Parade District, and a chance at redemption At the start of the game, Arthur is at work going through old newspapers and censoring things considered unpleasant and harmful to the community (essentially, any article that is either too depressing or reminds people of the things they're trying to forget through Joy). As Arthur goes through the articles, he comes across a newspaper article about him and his brother winning a scrap gathering prize and begins to remember Percy, upsetting him. Arthur quickly picks up the Joy pill bottle on his desk, opens it and pours out two Joy pills, but before he takes them, he relents, unable to decide whether or not he actually should take the pills. The player is then given the option to decide whether to take his Joy and forget, or refuse and start to remember the past. Should Arthur choose to take the pill, he forgets about everything, censors the entire page and thus buries his past for good. Thus, the game ends there and the credits start. If Arthur refuses to take the pill, however, he throws both it and the pill bottle into a nearby trash can and looks at the article alarmed, crying out Percy's name. He then gets stuck staring at the article for several hours. After around three hours, Victoria Byng enters his office and reminds him to finish up so he can come to the party. After finishing up his work, and while making his way to the party, Arthur passes by other offices which he can enter and even do more censoring on their machines, before passing by a window to a closed office where a Joy Doctor is forcing-feeding a worker Joy before quickly closing the window shutters. He then passes through other offices, seeing large piles of unfiled paperwork and broken pneumatic tubes, showing a concerning level of disrepair. When he arrives at the party, he finds everyone else gathered around a piñata which Byng tells him to hit (essentially the first part of the tutorial to the game's fighting mechanics). After hitting the "piñata”, the residual Joy in his system wears off and he sees he actually just smashed up a rat, and the "candy" the others are eating is actually its innards. He retches in disgust and horror, which causes Victoria to notice that he has gone off his Joy, and offer some of hers. When Arthur hesitates (refuses) to take it, she realizes that he has become a Downer and calls for the Bobbies. Arthur runs out of the office and makes a hasty, if somewhat inelegant escape, only to be cornered in a motilene maintenance tunnel on the other side of Wellington Wells. Just as they are about to kill Arthur, however, the Bobbies smell a gas leak and run away. Arthur then blacks out. The Garden District, and an attempt to escape Arthur wakes up in the maintenance tunnels beneath Wellington Wells, where he remembers a fellow worker named Prudence who went missing and deduces she might have escaped the same way. Arthur makes his way through the seemingly abandoned yet operational maintenance facilities. As he progresses, he begins to remember his old crafting skills and begins collecting various items to allow him to progress. While making his way through a workers' resting area, Arthur stumbles across a dead Council worker named Rupert Underhill and deduces that he has been murdered. When Arthur then tries to enter a room behind Underhill in order to unlock the nearby hatch, he is attacked by the killer, Theodore Miner. This is the first enemy the player encounters in the game and serves as the second part of the combat tutorial. After unlocking the hatch that leads out of the maintenance tunnels, Arthur exits out of them into the wastes of the Garden District. While wandering through the desolate landscape, Arthur begins planning to escape Wellington Wells to find Percy by reaching the nearby train station on Eel Pie Holm and using the tracks to get to the Britannia Bridge and out of the city. After getting onto Eel Pie Holm and locating the train station, Arthur enters it and begins making his way through the derelict and ruined building. Once he reaches the train tracks, however, he finds out that the tunnel has collapsed, blocking off the route completely. Shortly after that, Arthur is attacked by a group of Headboys but is able to fight them off. Seeing his only means of escape blocked, Arthur sees no point in staying in the area and makes his way to the surface levels of the train station. All while this is happening, Arthur has also started remembering bits and pieces of his past, mostly in the form of remembered conversations with Percy. It is revealed that Percy and Arthur had a close relationship as brothers, even though Arthur would sometimes get frustrated by how "slow" Percy was. When children were sent off by train to Germany, Arthur told them they had actually gotten his date of birth wrong and he was a few days older than thirteen, so he ended up getting rejected while Percy was forced onto the train without him. He still doesn't know why he "told them the truth." Meeting Ollie and robbing Ravensholm When Arthur is able to reach the ground floor of the train station, he finds his old neighbor Ollie Starkey living in the building, seeing him again for the first time in years. Ollie, who doesn't recognize Arthur at first and has begun to lose his mind, attacks Arthur with a Cricket Bat and almost clobbers him until Arthur manages to get through to him. Ollie makes deal with Arthur where he tasks Arthur with helping him infiltrate the Military Camp so he can burgle it by turning off the power in order to rob them. In exchange for this, Ollie will help Arthur get to Maidenholm. When infiltrating the Military Camp, Arthur wonders why the Germans left behind their tanks after they'd gotten the children. While inside the camp, Arthur climbs atop the roof of a shed overlooking the abandoned German tanks in the camp in order to plot out his entry. Suddenly, a spotlight shines right at him, blinding him, causing him to fall onto one of the tanks, only to go straight through it. He thus discovers that the tanks in the camp were nothing but fakes made by the Germans and placed there to deter any sort of uprising during the occupation. After disabling the power and barely escaping from the military camp and the crazed Home Army soldiers, (as the switch was alarmed, a fact that Ollie "conveniently" left out), Arthur later brings this up with Ollie. Ollie becomes shocked at this revelation, stating that had he known this he would have told the rest of the Home Army and they would have risen up if Germans really did not have tanks. Arthur, meanwhile, remembers that he actually lied about his age to get off the train and left Percy all alone. He reminds Ollie of their deal, and though Ollie initially laughs it off, he then decides to honor his agreement and gives Arthur a strange piece of machinery from his stash to use as an excuse to enter Maidenholm. Arthur is able to fool his way into the entry terminal, goes through a rehabilitation program meant to turn Wastrels into Wellies and is welcomed by the populace onto Maidenholm. Hamlyn Village, Meeting Sally and seeing the state of the city Arthur traverses Hamlyn Village, completing tasks for different people. He eventually runs into Sally Boyle, who is excited to see him. She notices that he is off his Joy, and he says that he remembered Percy and decided to stop taking his Joy in order to find him. While the beginning of their reunion is initially friendly, when Sally offers to get a Letter of Transit for Arthur from General Byng, Arthur becomes cold and hateful and is angry about something she supposedly did while living in his house. Arthur then tries to apologize, but Sally leaves (but not before telling where to find her, at her home). Arthur goes through a lengthy set of tasks in order to gain access onto St. George's Holm such as locating a Bobby's identification card at a sex club and helping Doctor Faraday out of her imprisonment in order to power up the bridge. While Arthur is infiltrating the Wellington Wells Constabulary building in order to obtain identity records from the archives, he briefly stumbles upon a Police Constable who somehow seems familiar to him from before. The Constable calls Arthur Percy (after Arthur's brother) but Arthur denies this, saying that Percy was sent away. This prompts the constable to ask if Arthur's memory is playing tricks on him or if he is honest. After this short encounter, Arthur remembers that the constable he just met very closely resembles the constable that Arthur lied to about his age and identity in 1944 to get Percy sent away in his place. Whether or not he saw through Arthur's lie back then or even recognized Arthur now is left unclear. Arthur is eventually able to locate Sally in her home, where he apologizes for his actions, though still expresses his anger at her. Sally tasks him to fetch a bottle of cod liver oil for her in exchange for a Letter of Transit from Byng, to which Arthur harshly and reluctantly agrees. She then kisses him, causing Arthur to flee in fear and embarrasment. Much to his dismay, Arthur realizes that the only place where he could find cold liver oil is Anton Verloc's lab, and so he sets out on another adventure in order to obtain the credentials to enter the facility. This includes tracking down a vanished reporter named Gemma Olsen and carrying on with her investigation from where she left off, which takes Arthur through the underground maintenance facilities for Jubilators and the Motilene network. There Arthur gradually discovers that the entire system keeping the city functioning is breaking down, Joy drug is going bad and people are beginning to suffer from the ill effects, with harmful and lethal results. After gaining access to Haworth Labs, Arthur discovers that the facility is in a state of chaos, with random accidents happening regularly, leading to fires, explosions, chemical leaks and areas being flooded with electrified water, among other things. On top of this, Arthur discovers that Verloc plans to essentially "lobotomize" the population of Wellington Wells with an electrical alternative to Joy, which will drive people insane and lock them in a permanent state of happiness. Arthur attempts to throw Verloc's own chemical at him in order to destroy his mind, but Verloc stuns Arthur with an electroshock field and escapes. Returning to Sally, Arthur gives her the cod liver oil, but from the way she acts, Arthur assumes that she sent him on a pointless quest for an equally pointless souvenir. He then brings out into the open how Sally "had sex with his father in his mother's bed," unaware of how his father would've kicked her out if she hadn't, in order to guilt her, and Sally sadly gives him the Letter of Transit. Arthur then states that she was the only person really innocent in all of their troubles. Arthur then offers to take Sally with him, to which she agrees but says that they'll have to leave at dawn because she needs to get some affairs in order. Arthur decides to leave without her, hastily saying that it's nothing personal. Afterward, it is revealed that Arthur suspected Sally of having a husband of her own and that she was planning to simply take advantage of Arthur to get out of the city and dispose of him at the first moment, completely unaware of the truth. The Parade District, and Arthur's Escape and Regret Arthur enters the Parade District, which is far more advanced than the rest of Wellington Wells and goes about various tasks to get into, through and out of the city, from fashion modeling to fixing machines for an engineer to infiltrating the hospital to lift the quarantine to the Wellington Wells Broadcast Tower. While infiltrating the hospital, Arthur is ambushed and captured by Joy Doctors and is subjected to an experiment, where he is injected with a prototype of Joy, causing him to see hallucinations of Percy, hear sounds that he heard when Percy was sent away and other traumatic experiences. Seeing this, the Doctors decide to call off the experiment as a failure but when they try to move Arthur to the holding cells, the power goes on the fritz, an accident happens and Arthur is able to disable the containment system, starting a riot among the Plague Wastrels locked up in there. This allows Arthur to escape, albeit while inadvertently breaching the quarantine in the process. Running through the town, as the Plague has now broken through the quarantine, with symptoms of Joy withdrawal and hangover, Arthur makes his way to the broadcast tower. He makes his way to the train station located beneath the building and enters into the rail tunnels, where he (at long last) discovers the corpse of his co-worker and fellow Downer, Prudence Holmes. With the letter in hand, Arthur fights and flees his way through the tunnels, which are being mined out to harvest Motilene. In order to get across the huge mine shaft, Arthur activates an excavator, triggering a massive chain reaction of explosions, causing the entire mine shaft to collapse in a violent orgy of destruction. Arthur narrowly escapes the carnage and makes it to the bridge, finally coming to the realization that in 1946, he just used Percy as an excuse, because he wasn't strong-willed enough, to escape for himself. There, Arthur encounters the Constable from before, who, upon removing his mask, is recognized by Arthur, and he finally remembers his past fully. Arthur realizes he actually used Percy's ID to trick the suspicious Constable into allowing him to stay in Wellington Wells, letting Percy take the fall and be dragged kicking and screaming by guards onto the train, calling out to Arthur. Arthur grieves over his brother that he betrayed and perhaps even got killed, and the Constable tells him that they've all done terrible things, and states that while Arthur can't be forgiven for what he's done, he should consider it a gift that he remembers these things at all. The Constable then begins to escort Arthur across the bridge. Act Two Arthur is encountered by Sally at the same location as in Act One but from Sally's perspective. Several things go differently, chief among them Arthur storming off instead of staying to apologize. Sally later encounters him out in the Garden District, sitting on a swing set. Their second conversation is almost identical to the one from Arthur's perspective, with some differences, including Arthur being harsher and less forgiving. Finally, in Sally's last encounter with him, things go similarly as before but Sally, rather than Arthur, suggests that they leave Wellington Wells together. Arthur, initially excited by this, gets upset when Sally tells him that they have to wait, and as Arthur abandons her, she reveals that she has a baby, but Arthur brushes this shocking statement off and leaves. Act Three Arthur is only encountered in the first cut-scene during his dialogue with Ollie after infiltrating the military camp but from Ollie's perspective. Things are almost perfectly identical, but with several slight dialogue differences, and Ollie immediately helping Arthur. Epilogue As Arthur and the Constable walk across the bridge, Arthur continues to hear Percy crying out, and upon questioning from the Constable, Arthur laments how heinous he truly is. The Constable notes that some people are better prepared than others to handle the truth and the guilt and anguish that comes with it, and offers Arthur an Oblivion Pill that will make him completely and permanently forget everything. The player is once again given the choice between taking and not taking the pill, mirroring the choice given at the start of the game. Should Arthur accept, he presumably completely forgets the events of the whole game and goes back to Wellington Wells, and can be seen playing on playground equipment in a dilapidated and overgrown area, presumably one of the last people still on Joy. If Arthur refuses, the Constable puts away the pill and allows Arthur to finish his journey on his own. After making his way across the bridge onto mainland Britain, Arthur can then be seen saying "Lovely day for it!" to various plants, trees and rocks and then encounters a boy with a ball, who Arthur tries the same greeting with. The boy retorts by saying it's actually been a shitty day and it's been raining all day, and that tonight will be bad too. Arthur, with a smile on his face, then states to the boy, "You're right. It has been a rather shit day", feeling a sense of relief from the artificially-enforced happiness and the childless world of Wellington Wells. Quests Arthur's Quests Relationships Percival Hastings Percy was Arthur's older brother in Wellington Wells. They were extremely close, and Arthur often was there to take care of him due to his developmental disorder, although he would often do it begrudgingly. Percy loved Arthur more than anybody else, highlighting their relationship as being as close as friends. However, that undoubtedly disappeared the moment of Arthur's betrayal, which possibly led to Percy's death. However, Arthur still loved Percy despite what he had done to him, and felt extraordinarily guilty over time. When Joy came into existence, he seized the opportunity to forget, only much later realizing that forgetting about something does not change what really happened. When the Constable causes Arthur to remember once again what he did, the immense shame and guilt overwhelms him and causes him to break down. Should he decide to remember everything, he will set off in search of Percy (which is futile, as he seemed to be killed with the rest of the children sent to Germany), showing that he plans to make up for what he did. Sally Boyle Sally was Arthur's childhood friend and crush. Sally seemed to like Arthur as well, highlighted by the time that they spent together. Arthur's family took Sally in when her mother killed herself and the rest of the family, leaving Sally as the sole survivor. She was eventually scared off by Arthur out of fear and shame, due to the fact that she slept with his father (although refusing to would have ended badly for her). When the two meet again years later, they are initially excited to see one another, but Arthur quickly remembers what Sally did, and seems to resent her once again, but feels badly for it, and decides to apologize. From there, their relationship becomes one based on a deal: "Help me and I'll help you." It is shown that Sally still has feelings for Arthur, however, when she kisses him, but he is scared by this and flees, suggesting that the time for romance has long since past. From their differing perspectives, the two offer the other one the opportunity to leave Wellington Wells together, but it ultimately doesn't happen, as Sally needs time to get her affairs in order before she can leave, causing Arthur to abandon her, stating that it's nothing personal. This closes the door on any future relations with one another. Ollie Starkey Ollie and Arthur's relationship is a little more unclear, as the two seemed to simply be neighbors. Apparently, though, Ollie knew Arthur's mother (judging by his comment about Arthur swearing) and he would let Arthur (and Sally) play in his house. In the game, it is revealed that Ollie apparently knew of Arthur's survival, as he found Arthur coming back from the train station, the only child to do so. Ollie then decides to take advantage of Arthur's presence by having him help out with robbing the Victory Memorial Camp in exchange for helping him enter Maidenholm. Ollie seems less concerned for Arthur's safety, as he leaves out some important parts about the security in there (such like how crazy the Home Army soldiers are about civilians and the power switch being alarmed), but once the caper is successfully carried out, Ollie ultimately decides to help Arthur get to civilization, perhaps because of their friendship. Ollie and Arthur never see each other again after that. Edmund Macmillan An old friend of Arthur and Percy. Arthur saved Eddie from the Plough Boys and carried him after the gang attacked him and apparently broke his legs. Eddie mentions on multiple occasions how Percy told him that Arthur was "good." Abilities Out of the three characters, Arthur has the most well-balanced build for either combat or stealth. He can craft a relatively wide assortment of survival items, tools, weapons and the like, can wield any weapon he can make or find, and can even remove the penalties normally incurred from being hungry, thirsty or tired. He is also the only character that can use both Chemistry Tables and Workbenches. Two of his abilities are simply cosmetic and the other two are positive ones: His other abilities in Combat, Stealth, and Super-Duper all focus on both combat and stealth. Combat allows Arthur to deal more damage when attacking, gain more health and defense, or even give him the upper hand by stunning enemies or breaking their weapons when he blocks their attacks at the right time. Stealth allows him to be more hidden by making his footsteps quieter, having enemies take longer to see him and allows him to quietly strangle enemies unconscious in their beds or from behind when trespassing. Two of the later skills allow Arthur to be outdoors during curfew without raising suspicion as well as run, jump and crouch without upsetting Wellies. Super-Duper lets him get more health back from healing items, carry more things and be less burdened if he carries too much, takedown taller enemies (Bobbies and Doctors), and remove the penalties of low hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. Gallery Arthur Hastings at Desk Concept Art.jpg|Concept art for Arthur at his desk, by Whitney Clayton. Arthur Hastings Concept Sketches.jpg|Concept sketches of Arthur Hastings. We Happy Few - Percival and Arthur.png|Young Arthur on the newspapers (left) WHF_Arthur_HERO-hero.jpg|Offical artwork for Arthur Trivia *According to Reg Cutty at the beginning of Possibly Heinous Package quest, Arthur is about tall 6 ft. (=1.83 m). Many other characters often state that Arthur is very tall. *Arthur is a member of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. A denomination opposed to violence and famed for abstinence and/or moderation when it comes to drugs and/or drinking. *His first Proper Suit is a gift from his uncle Henry Hastings. *He was born on 12th of August, 1934 *Young Arthur's identity card as shown in his flashback to the train station erroneously states that he has brown hair and green eyes; adult Arthur is consistently portrayed, in-game and in promotional material, with black hair and brown eyes. *Besides Gwen Boyle, Arthur is presumably either the youngest or one of the youngest people in Wellington Wells due to the fact that everyone else his age and younger was sent to Germany (or killed beforehand, like Margaret) and all children born after that were killed or smuggled out. *Arthur's voice actor, Alex Wyndham, bears a slight resemblance to him. *Arthur's favorite flavor of Joy is Strawberry, as when entering a Joy booth, he will always pick that flavor. All Joy pills he finds are also Strawberry-flavored. *The cutscenes that he and Sally share are experienced differently depending on who the player is playing at the moment. In Arthur's perspective, he will meet Sally in the Village and give her the cod liver oil in her home; in Sally's perspective, she will meet Arthur in the Village as well but she will meet him again in the Garden when he's on a swing to give him the Letter of Transit. **In general, Arthur's POV seems to portray him as a decent bloke (aside from his memories of his past) who is only cruel or a liar when he needs to be. On the other hand, Sally's POV portrays him as not quite a bastard but definitely shows more of the worse parts of his personality. This could be attributed to the residual Joy in his system, which as a side effect of "making you happy" seems to make you believe only in facts that don't make you unhappy such as making you think you're a better person than you really are. *Hastings shares a name with Captain Arthur Hastings, assistant to Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot - who, like We Happy Few's Hastings, is a quintessentially British gentleman. His last name is also the name of the famous battle of 1066 which lead to the death of the then-current King of England and facilitated the successful Norman conquest of the country, the last successful invasion until the 1943 invasion in the game's alternative history. *Arthur and Percy's names are references to the Arthurian legends, King Arthur and his knight Sir Percival. ru:Артур Гастингс Category:Characters Category:Playable Characters Category:Downer